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Hi there! I'm Gina...welcome :). This is my space for all things that inspire me. From my business, to diy's & recipes, to daily life, and everything in between. Have a question or want to say hello? email me!

Yesterday was just one of those days.First up, my car window broke. It keeps slipping down into the door so I have to drive with one hand pressed against it or else it will slide all the way into the door. One benefit is that my left arm is getting really strong....but it is also extremely sore. Good think I am right handed.Second womp womp moment - this guy hurt his paw.

It is a long story, but basically Finn cannot handle when he is on leash and an off leash dog approaches him. Last week one of these encounters resulted in me pulling 65 pounds of pure muscle dog down the street and unintentionally dragging his feet along the pavement. The dragging resulted in bloody back paws. It was traumatic for all involved.His paws seemed better within a few days and all was good in Finn's world. That was until yesterday when he started limping. His back right paw is now worse than ever. Send help.I put some soothing, anti-bacterial spray on the paw and pumped him full of benadryl {don't judge, he's a lot of work}.And then a bunch of other dumb stuff happened and I wanted to kill someone. Or myself.Last night as I drove to meet friends for dinner {holding my window up} I saw a man that lives in my neighborhood, in his car. When I saw him, I thought I would see my problems in a whole new light. I actually thought the heavens would open and I would have a come to Jesus moment. I would realize "ohh, I need to stop complaining...that man lives in his tiny little beat up red car that has an actual screen for a window spray painted the same color as the car {true story...and kind of awesome. Maybe I should do that?}."But I didn't have that moment.I wanted to have it but I could not stop stressing about my puppy and my stupid car and the 109 other dumb things that were bugging me.Part of me wishes I would have had that moment because I really hate complaining about things like car windows and doggie paws. But Jaysus, sometimes you just need a moment to feel sorry for yourself. And luckily, my problems are nothing Chipotle and a bottle of wine can't fix. Cheers to Friday.

I have been working like crazy to get orders from my Etsy and online shops made and mailed. I am also working on items for two new shops that will be stocking my product and I am so grateful for the opportunities. Sometimes when you think you are having a bad week, things can just turn around like that.I have been washing my hair without conditioner. I cannot for the life of me get to Target to buy conditioner. I don't know what is happening. I have never had a problem making time for Target. We are kind of best friends and I have really been neglecting her. As a result of my neglect, my hair is a constant mess.I have been wearing shorts pretty much non-stop. After years of being anti-shorts, I bought a pair of the "boyfriend style" at The Gap and I am obsessed. Why didn't anyone tell me about the amazingness of shorts? I used to come home and throw on yoga pants, now I just live in shorts. I am not sure what I will do when it gets cold....I have been drinking beers with a shot of grenadine in them. Try it and consider your life forever improved.I have been sobbing while listening to the book What Remains. Have you read it? Can we just talk about it and cry together. I AM NOT EVEN A CRYER but damn, this book had me in tears all afternoon and now I am exhausted. Like your boyfriend broke up with you and you cannot stop crying exhausted.I have been eating way too much peach ice cream. It is so delicious and if I close my eyes I can fool myself into thinking I am eating frozen peaches. So...it's really healthy.I have been looking forward to Fall. Weird. I am usually a summer girl but Fall sounds nice right about now.

Saturday evening I went to a Blogger Meet Up at Urban Skin Care in Little Italy. The event was planned by my friend Tammy. She is just so good at these things. So good. I have had such a fun time at every event she has planned or has been a part of.Also, the owners and staff at Urban Skin Carewere pretty much the nicest people at any spa I have ever stepped foot in. So welcoming and sweet. And they got us sparkling wine and pizza from Napizza. SO good.

Finn's latest prized possession. He found it in a pile of garbage left by an evicted house....

**I guess I am new because I just discovered The Bloggess and oh man, is she hysterical. My favorite mix of ridiculous and sarcastic. She just wrote a memoir and I spent about three hours reading her blog the other day when I should have been working on more important things. Oops.**This blog {written by a man - crazy!} is really funny and I loved this post on marriage. Marriage can be really freakin' annoying sometimes. And really great, blah, blah, blah.**I love these inspirational business tips on Just Love.ly and Gussy Sews. Sometimes I need a little inspiration. There are times when I think being a business owner is so hard and I mentally plan my pity party. Then I get over myself and realize I get to do what I love every.single.day. No whining allowed.**I am giving away a $50 credit to my shop over at Bubby & Bean. You should probably go enter.**Speaking of my shop, I added new colors of Color Dipped Brass Earrings and I love them all.

Enjoy your weekend! What do you have planned??

I am heading to a SoCal Blogger Meetup tomorrow night and that's it! I love a weekend with nothing on the schedule. I guess it will give me time to clean my disaster of a house....or not.

Have you guys seen al the Photoshop actions Dana from The Wonder Forest is selling in her design shop, Envye?If not head on over and check them out. You will want each and every one.I have downloaded free actions in the past and in general, they are really good {my favorite source for free actions is The Coffee Shop Blog}. However, after purchasing and installing A Little Vintage Photoshop Action from Dana, I was completely blown away. It adds an oh-so-perfect dreamy touch to the photos I have enhanced with it. I am a fan of freebies, but often, what you pay for is the best.I am definitely heading back to Envye to purchase another action. The only hard thing will be deciding which one to buy....If you decide to purchase, but don't know how to install the action, you're in luck because I am going to show you how to install them.Note - I work with Photoshop Elements on a MacBook. BUT, I know there are many similarities between Macs and Pc's and with a little brain power all you PC users can use my instructions to figure this out.

CLOSE PHOTOSHOP BEFORE STARTING THIS INSTALLATION PROCESS!

Download the file. It will come as a zip file. Once it's downloaded, unzip it.

Find the file in the folder {mine automatically goes to the "download" folder"} and copy the .atn icon {the one that says "actions" on it}. You can copy this file by clicking Command+C on a Mac or Control+C on a PC.

Follow this path to the folder where you will paste the copied action file:

When you arrive in the "en_US" folder, you will see a file that says MediaDatabase.db3.

Change the name of this file to MediaDatabaseOLD.db3.

Reopen Photoshop Elements and you will see the action on the right side under "Photo Effects."

Note - all the actions that come standard with PS have a small thumbnail photo specific to them. The action I downloaded from Envye did not come with a thumbnail, so I created one. You can use anything you want as the "thumbnail." Just save it as a .png file and give it the exact same name as the action file.

Now you are ready to give your photos a gorgeous, dreamy look.

Don't you LOVE it? Have you downloaded any Photoshop Actions? If so, which one is your favorite?